The present invention generally relates to portable electronic devices. More specifically, the invention relates to one or more smart webcam devices in distributed circuit casings and cable-encapsulating neck structures. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a novel casing structure suitable for a multi-purpose usage of a smart webcam device. In addition, the invention also relates to a multi-segment casing structure that is appropriately weight-balanced for multi-purpose usage and operational durability.
Conventional “webcam” devices are typically computer-mounted or display-mounted electronic devices, each with a camera lens to capture one or more images, videos, and/or other multimedia content visible and recordable through the camera lens. With various video capturing and multimedia applications becoming ubiquitous and popular, many personal computers (PC's), portable electronic devices, and building structures, and vehicles are being mounted with “webcams,” each of which is configured to communicate with a main body of a computer or another main computing unit that contains a central processing unit (CPU), a memory unit, a graphics processor, and/or an input/output (I/O) communication interface. Furthermore, webcam devices are generally configured to communicate with another electronic device over a data network, so that multimedia information captured in real-time can be stored, viewed, or edited by various application programs executed on the other electronic device connected over the data network.
In some devices, a webcam is structurally embedded to a body of another electronic device. For example, many of today's laptop computers each embed a front-facing webcam on a top portion of its display screen frame. Furthermore, many of today's cellular phones each embed a rear-facing camera lens, and sometimes also embed a front-facing camera lens. Both of these camera lenses in cellular phones can be considered “webcams” because they can be used in conjunction with networked devices and Internet-enabled communications applications, such as Skype.
However, there are numerous electronic devices that still do not embed webcams despite the convenience of integrating them. For example, many big-screen television frames in today's market still do not embed webcams. Likewise, many larger computer display models still do not incorporate webcams. Furthermore, vehicles that can benefit from incorporation of webcams for evidence-gathering purposes (i.e. in case of accidents or illegal activities) still do not feature windshield-facing video-recording equipment as standard features.
Even though a user can manually attach a webcam to a big-screen television, to a large computer display screen frame, or to an interior of a vehicle, most of these webcam devices still need to be connected to a separate computing equipment for recording of data or data communication. Moreover, a conventional webcam-integrating portable electronic device that provides both webcam recording and network communication functions is typically a single-piece “slab” casing device, which requires a separate mount to be mounted on top of a television frame, a computer display screen, or a vehicle dashboard. Equally important, a conventional “slab” casing webcam equipment does not stand on its own on a flat ground, and cannot be adjusted to a stable position, unless a dedicated mounting unit is utilized.
Therefore, it may be beneficial to provide a novel webcam device casing with balanced weights in multiple segments. Furthermore, it may also be beneficial to provide a novel webcam device casing that contains both webcam-specific circuitry and network communication-capable computing circuitry in different segments of the novel webcam device for ideal weight distribution. Moreover, it may also be beneficial to provide a novel webcam device that has a cable-encapsulating neck structure situated between the webcam-specific circuitry and the network communication-capable computing circuitry for operational durability in various positioning of the novel webcam device.